Foodini: The future of food is 3D printed

Named by CNN as one of the ‘tech superheroes’ to watch in 2017, Natural Machines’ 3D food printer Foodini is the next big thing in food-tech: different from all other 3D food printers, Foodini is going to make preparing food healthier, easier, and so much fun. Our interview with Lynette Kucsma, Co-founder and CMO at Natural Machines.

Imagine having a personal cook in your kitchen, layering lasagne by hand and shaping filled ravioli for you and your kids, every day, 24/7. And using only natural ingredients: forget preservatives, additives, chemicals, palm oil, too much sugar or salt – you can finally say bye to processed food and start a whole new life of healthy eating. Now stop imagining: you can have it (for only $2,500!), and it’s a robot. Its name is Foodini and is the new-born of theNatural Machinesfamily.

Headquartered in Barcelona, the food-tech company has developed a 3D food printer that differs from other (few) competitors in its niche market and that is likely to revolutionise the world of food. Why so? Well, first of all, because it prints out REAL fresh, nutritious foods: thanks to a capsule-based model, Foodini can accommodate an infinite variety of fresh ingredients. Secondly, Foodini is the first 3D food printer kitchen appliance to contribute to a healthy eating lifestyle.

We have interviewed Lynette Kucsma, founder at CMO at Natural Machines: she has guided us through the functioning of Foodini, which she defines as “the next kitchen revolution after the microwave.” And she has shared with us her views on the future of food: it will look pretty much the same, just fancier.

Foodini is a new generation kitchen appliance promoting cooking with fresh ingredients and healthy eating through the use of food-grade/safe materials. It comes equipped with five re-usable, stainless steel food capsules that enable you to print an unlimited amount of ingredients and prepare all sort of dishes – the only limit is your fantasy, really. Thanks to this open capsule model, consumers can place fresh ingredients into their printer and are not forced to buy pre-packaged food capsules, but they can simply use what they have available at home or buy their own local, organic ingredients. Also, you don’t have to wait hours for dinner: cooking times range from under a minute to a couple of hours for very complex foods.

Connected to the Internet: a built-in touch screen provides user’s interface for printing.

Foodini encourages healthy eating. Its main purpose is to take on the difficult and time-consuming parts of food preparation that often discourage people from creating homemade food and offer a slightly different proposition to consumers: don’t buy pre-processed snacks and meals! Get back to home cooking with fresh ingredients! Well, you weren’t expecting this from a 3D printing device, were you? Foodini’s founders are extremely clear in this regard: it is real food, just 3D printed.

You might be wondering: can I buy it? Where? How much will it cost? Well, good news is that yes, you can definitely buy it. Foodini is now in production and can be purchased via the Natural Machines website and soon through select distributors, too. Bad news is that it is available, for now, to select early-access customers only. Natural Machines’ main focus is professional kitchen users first, but a consumers-ready cooking version will be available for home kitchen users soon.